Boon

+ATK: A fantastic boon, as it pushes Leif’s Attack to a solid base 35. This greatly increases his damage output if he can ensure follow-up attacks with his high base Speed or through skills like Quick Riposte.

+SPD: One of Leif’s best boon stats thanks to his stellar base 38 Speed. With a Speed Boon, this value reaches an impressive base 41 before skills, which assists Leif’s offensive and defensive abilities greatly.

Neutral

DEF: Worth preserving on Leif when possible. Though a bane is somewhat mitigated by the +3 Def from Light Brand, Leif’s base 30 Defense grants him respectable physical soak. This is important, as most of Leif’s opponents will be high-Defense heroes as he wants to capitalize on the +7 damage of Light Brand as much as possible.

Bane

-RES: Arguably Leif’s best bane. While base 23 Resistance isn’t completely unsalvageable, Leif’s superbane in HP makes this bane slightly more appealing. Leif should have little issue surviving a hit from most mages regardless of his Resistance stat thanks to his high Speed.

-HP: This bane allows Leif to maintain some of his magical bulk at the cost of worsened physical bulk and a lower BST. This superbane does not place Leif in a different BST bin, but a Resistance bane is generally preferred in order to preserve Leif’s physical bulk.

This is Leif’s optimal set if he wishes to take advantage of Light Brand. Distant Counter is a must in order for Leif to combat archers and mages that fail to KO him, and Quick Riposte should need little introduction. Despite his high speed, Leif will struggle to KO faster opponents that reach Speed values around the low 40s, making Quick Riposte a useful addition. Leif’s seal and boon/bane serve to improve his damage output, whereas the Assist and C slot skills are flexible.

For those looking to focus on Leif's physical match-ups, Steady or Warding Breath are the best choices over Distant Counter. Warding Breath is useful for improving Leif's Resistance for the match-up against dragons, but this match-up is already quite weak so Steady Breath is arguably the better of the two skills. As for which Special is the best choice to complement these skills, Draconic Aura can be a great choice if Leif is reliably meeting the requirements of Light Brand. Aether is useful as well, as it vastly improves his mileage with Quick Riposte.

The Attack +3 seal can be replaced with the Quick Riposte seal, but this leaves Leif with fewer choices for a B slot skill. Guard can be useful in safeguarding Leif against special skills, but the extra 3 Attack from the Attack +3 seal will generally be more useful.

For those looking to take advantage of Leif’s high base Speed, it’s worth considering a replacement weapon. Light Brand’s damage is strong, but sometimes unreliable, making more consistent weapons such as a Wo Dao+ or Slaying Edge+ more appealing. With a +Spd boon, +Spd refinement on the weapon and a Speed +3 seal, Leif will reach an impressive 47 base Speed. Swift Sparrow pushes this up to 51, which is enough Speed to make follow-up attacks against particularly notorious heroes such as a Speed invested DC Ayra before merges. With reliable follow-up attacks, Leif should have no problem tackling any hero that isn't bulky and/or blue.

Moonbow and Swift Sparrow are relatively standard offensive options, but these skills are flexible depending on skill availability. Alternatives include Death Blow, which is a stronger alternative against foes around 40-42 Speed that Leif can already ensure follow-up attacks against. Fury is also worth considering, as it allows Leif to maintain some Speed as well as his decent defensive stats during the Enemy Phase. Wrath is a powerful skill that can allow Leif to do tremendous damage with the Wo Dao+, but may be unavailable to some players due to availability. Desperation is the perfect replacement in this case, and some players may even prefer Desperation in order to reduce the risk of KO.

Drive Atk is Leif's ideal C slot due to its ease of use, strong effect in addition to the fact that he has the skill as a part of his base skillset. Speed +3 is recommended to ensure follow-up attacks, but Attack +3 or Quickened Pulse are worthy replacements for enemies that can't match Leif's agility.

While not recommended for use in Arena, S Drink can be an exceptionally useful skill in PvE modes with consecutive battles. This build can be relatively cheap depending on how far players wish to take Leif. Leif's Special skill is dependant on whatever weapon Leif is using. With the Light Brand or Wo Dao+, any skill with a short cooldown is the best choice. Those opting for a Slaying Edge+ will find better value in Specials with longer cooldowns however.

Despite the above statement, there are some small changes that players can make for a wildly unreliable, but amusing OHKO build for Arena. Leif is unique in that he can reduce his Special charge cooldown more than any other hero on the first turn thanks to S Drink, which allows him to use Moonbow right from the get-go. With a supporting team-member with Infantry Pulse, or a Slaying Edge+ instead of a Wo Dao+, Leif can increase the variety of Specials he can activate before a single round of combat. With a Slaying Edge+, S Drink, Quickened Pulse and one teammate with Infantry Pulse, Leif can use Ignis or Dragon Fang in his first engagement, allowing him to deal tremendous damage to most enemies and almost guarantee an OHKO.

Though this sounds like something stronger in theory than in practice, Leif's high Speed and reasonable Defense means that unlike many other heroes with similar builds, Leif can perform respectably well even after delivering his initial blow. The build can be particularly strong in consecutive game modes as Leif can trigger these Special charge cooldown effects in every battle.

Overall, this build can be a cheap filler for those looking to have Leif fill in the roster during a consecutive battling mode, or an expensive, but effective build to turn Leif into a powerhouse for that first initiation.

Introduction

As the final main series lord to be released, Leif of Thracia 776 is easily one of the more unique sword infantry in the game. His playstyle is defined by his unique weapon: Light Brand, which grants a huge +7 damage when the foe’s Defense exceeds their Resistance by 5 or more points. Coupled with Leif’s naturally high Speed and decent Defense, it doesn’t take much investment for Leif to become a powerful answer to physical heroes.

With that said, Leif’s usefulness drops if he cannot meet the conditions of the Light Brand. Effectively losing 14 damage from Leif’s two attacks hinders his KO potential massively, making Dragons with high Defense and Resistance one of Leif’s greatest counters. Leif will also struggle against mages, as though he has the upper hand against archers thanks to Light Brand, few mages have more Defense than Resistance. Despite these shortcomings, Leif can be a powerful hero with the right support.

“I have every intention of living up to my father’s good name. He had earned the distinction that comes with being a Knight of Noba.”

Leif, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

Strengths

Light Brand

Light Brand has a relatively binary activation requirement, but this weapon effectively grants 23 might against many heroes in the game, as dropping points in Resistance is common among high Defense heroes. This effect also considers Resistance debuffs, meaning that a teammate debuffing an enemy hero’s Resistance stat could allow Leif to gain bonus damage. +3 Defense is also quite useful.

Strong offensive stats

32/38 Attack and Speed is very impressive, even among sword infantry. Leif’s naturally high Speed is fantastic for offensive and defensive builds, and requires little investment to reach the low-mid 40s. 32 Attack, while not as good, is still decent enough, and vastly improved by Light Brand: a neutral Leif with Light Brand’s effect will have an effective 55 Attack before skills.

S Drink

While S Drink has very little practical use in Arena, the skill is notable as the strongest effect in the game for modes with consecutive battles, namely: Tempest Trials and Chain Challenge. In Arena, the skill has a niche use for charging special skills more quickly, but this is rarely worth sacrificing another B slot skill for.

Weaknesses

Light Brand is sometimes useless

Light Brand is a double-edged sword: though it will grant an extra +7 damage per attack, other times it may be nothing more than a 16 Might sword. Without any guarantee that Leif will benefit from this effect, Light Brand is much weaker.

Poor Resistance

Resistance is the weakest of Leif’s stats, and while his high Speed will help prevent mages from defeating him, his poor Resistance means he’ll still take heavy damage. Many high-attack blue mages can KO Leif with relative ease.

Team Options

If he is using the Light Brand, Leif benefits massively from any ally that can debuff Resistance, or ideally, both Defense and Resistance. This allows him to benefit from the +7 damage from Light Brand as well as deal more considerable damage against a debuffed Defense stat. Note that the foe’s Defense must remain 5 points higher than their Resistance however, so it may be worth utilising these debuffs on two different heroes in order to reach this requirement. Otherwise, Leif’s optimal allies will be able to check his glaring weakness to blue mages.

Debuffers: Spring Catria, Spring Sharena, Lilina, Felicia and Sothe are a few examples of Heroes who can debuff enemy heroes to Leif’s benefit.

Powerful Green Heroes: Green heroes that can retaliate from melee or range make great partners for Leif, as they can all check her prominent weakness to green heroes. Hector, Hector (LA), Fae, Fallen Robin (M), and Myrrh are among the best options, but high Resistance heroes that can best blue mages such as Julia, Deirdre, and Halloween Henry are also great partners.

Dragons: Nowi, Corrin (F), and Adult Tiki can exploit Leif’s low Resistance to deal considerable damage. It is also difficult for Leif to activate Light Brand against Nowi unless she is heavily invested in Defense.

Strong Blue Heroes with High Defense: Gwendolyn, Lukas, Fallen Hardin, Winter Robin, and Shiro are examples of heroes that Leif will struggle to pierce the defenses of; even with Light Brand.

Blue Mages: Reinhardt, Micaiah, Lute, Mae, Lyn (LA), Delthea, Olwen, and other high power mages can all deal KO Leif with relative ease if their Attack is high enough.

User Submitted Builds

Leif is a speedy boi, so let us use a build focused almost entirely on his speedyness. Light Brand and Ignis do nothing to capitalize on his speed, but Light Brand help him do more damage against, say, Hector, and Ignis helps him damage units even more, even if they have 52 Def or above. S Drink is just there because it helps with Ignis, and Swap is there because why not. Now we get to the fun part, his speed! Flashing Blade is to help Leif trigger Ignis faster (obviously), and, if the enemy can counter and Leif doubles, he is able to trigger Ignis on the first round of combat. Threaten Spd is there so Leif can double, or avoid doubles, from high Spd units like Mia, and, while her Spd surpasses his at +10 + Speed+3 + a Spd boon, reaching 50 Spd, he can lower her Spd to 45, which puts Leif into Flashing Blade range. Though, with Harsh Command to counter Threaten Spd and Spur Spd, she can double Leif no problem. And Speed+3 is there for all the reasons regarding his speed above. This is a +10 build, by the way.

A very niche one hit wonder Leif I like using. While he does require the team support of two pulse units (Ostia's Pulse or Infantry Pulse), he hits extraordinarily hard.
AoE specials bypass the weapon triangle, combat buffs from sources like fortify defense, drive defense, steady stance or steady breath will not prevent damage dealt by them. Because of this, he is likely to get a very clean hit with his Wo Dao boosted special, leaving most enemies, even blue tanks, in a range where he can finish them in a single blow once combat starts.
He does however struggle to overcome vantage, as his AoE special will put the enemy within vantage range before combat starts. Powerful vantage users like Ares and Swordhardt will therefore have an easy time dealing with him.

I got unlucky with his IVs but got a cool idea of how to use him. This build goes full into the role of combat medic by abusing the combination of his own skill S Drink, Quickened Pulse and a cooldown reducing sword having a Sol special ready to unleash on a unsuspecting green foe (preferably). On modes with consecutive battles he would be able to heal someone at the end of the previous battle, start the next getting full hp with his skill, heal someone else and then use his Sol special to heal himself, basically opening the possibility to heal a third teammate, or just survive the battle. He has enough stats to be an excellent combat medic while still covering (albeit being a bit more mediocre). The HP skill is to further augment his hp pool when combined with the +5 from weapon refinery, leaving him with 50 hp, and heal fully a lot more of characters, with only 7 armors with more or equal his hp with their base skills. C is left to the always useful drive atk.
For options, if you've got a hero with infantry pulse, you could either keep the light brand or change the seal slot to other more combat helpful seal. Infantry rush wouldn't be that cool, as you would need to hit first to reduce your cooldown reducing the enemy's hp and therefore reducing the amount of hp you could heal. Not to mention the risk of the counterattack killing Leif if he just healed someone.

Super standard Leif. Use DC to beat bows and everything sans bulky blues and non green magic. Fast enough to avoid doubles and the attack boost from the boon is much appreciated. Quick riposte is there for doubles against fast swordies/ anything else. C is interchangeable I use atk tactic. Light brand is a cool weapon, but slaying edge also works. Aether for points n stuff

This build capitalizes on Leif's amazing speed and builds from it. A speed boon would be preferred to make sure you get a safe Flashing Blade proc. An attack boon would work but you would have to change the seal to a speed seal instead of attack. The bane is res and is a little better than HP because of the superboon.

The Slaying Edge pulls this build together by getting rid of a charge and giving you that extra speed for Flashing Blade. You could use Light's Brand if you want to take the gamble with the defense and res threshold, but you would lose out on the 3 speed which overall might risk you not getting that Flashing Blade charge

Flashing Blade works pretty well on Leif. He may not have as much speed as Ayra or Mia but it works pretty well on him if he has the necessary boons and skills. Will the listed skills he'll have 44 speed total which is a safe Flashing Blade for most situations.

The B skill is pretty hard. Desperation, Quick Riposte and Vantage are all pretty good skills that could work on Leif depending on the situation but with this build the -1 cooldown charge works well.

The C skill is something that mostly depends on your team, but since Leif doesn't boast the highest attack Odd Attack Wave can work wonders. Finally the seal is something of choice but since you're switching to a Slaying Edge you're losing 2 attack which doesn't work the best with Leif's 35. So a +3 attack seal is recommended